GULLANE, Scotland – The top end of the British Open leaderboard reads like a who’s-who of who-are-these-guys?

All tournament long, a fellow named Des Smyth has refused to go away. He’s a 49-year-old who came here with designs on merely making the cut and who has one victory – at the 2001 Madeira Island Open – since 1993.

Once Smyth made the cut, his next goal was to finish in the Top 15 to get an automatic exemption to next year’s British Open, which would be his 23rd.

Suddenly, Smyth, the accidental tourist of this championship, finds himself a mere three shots off the lead entering today’s final round.

Not bad for a guy who earlier in the week suffered a pulled back muscle while taking a nap in his car, an ailment that was so bad he nearly withdrew.

“I was sneaking up behind [the leaders] when they were not watching,” Smyth said. “I’ll go out [today] and see what happens.”

Should Smyth, who already holds the distinction of being the oldest player to win a Europea Tour event, win today, he’d become the oldest player ever to win a major.

The opposite side of the spectrum is 22-year-old Sergio Garcia, who’s just three shots off the lead and believes his time to win a first major is now.

“If you look at the last couple of years, I’ve been putting myself in good positions to win majors and unfortunately I haven’t,” Garcia said. “I’m looking forward to [today] to give myself a good chance to win a major. If I’m able to do it, I’ll be the happiest man on Earth.”

American Scott McCarron, who nearly won the Nissan Open and the World Match Play early in the year before having his heart broken twice, would also be a happy man to win his first major.

McCarron, who’s three shots back, was one of the few players who relished the brutal conditions yesterday.

“This is the British Open; this is the way the weather is supposed to be,” said McCarron, who shot 72.

Asked if he’d take more of the same for the final round today, McCarron said, “Without a doubt, the tougher the better. Bring it on.”

Quietly, the player sitting in second place, Soren Hansen from Denmark, has, like Smyth, hung around the leaderboard.

He’s two shots behind Els and confident with his game after having won the Murphy’s Irish Open several weeks ago, his first European Tour win. It came after a second-place finish in the Compass English Open.